Freshwater ostracods (Crustacea) of Gaziantep (Turkey) and their habitat preferences according to movement ability

Abstract

To understand habitat preferences of swimming and non-swimming ostracods (Crustacea), 70 samples were randomly collected from seven different water bodies (ponds, lakes, limnocrene springs, troughs, rheocrene springs, creeks and rivers) during July 2010 in the Gaziantep region (Turkey). A total of 29 species were collected and 26 of them are classified as new reports for the region. Species with and without reduced swimming setae on the second antenna showed differences in their habitat preferences. The population density of species with setae did not show a significant (p > 0.05) difference between lentic and lotic habitats. However, species without swimming setae are mostly bottom dependent and appear to prefer lotic habitats more than lentic (p < 0.05). Such preference in lotic habitats may enhance their dispersion ability, increasing survival chance in a wide range of habitats. According to results of Canonical Correspondence Analyses (CCA), water (p = 0.004) and air temperatures (p = 0.042) were found as the most influential variables on species where habitat type did not show significant influence. This also coincided with the Spearman correlation analysis which indicated that species with a wide tolerance range to environmental variables and wide geographical distribution portrayed significant correlation to water temperature. Overall, results suggest that populations of swimming species may have the ability of free movement and show successful distribution in different aquatic habitats because of higher species tolerance levels to a variety of biotic/abiotic factors.